Orbiraja powelli

Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Rajiformes
Family: Rajidae

Distribution and habitat

  • It occurs in Northern Indian Ocean: Arabian Sea (India) to Bay of Bengal (Myanmar).
  • It is a demersal marine fish found at depth range 15 – 460 m.

About the fish

  • Orbiraja is a genus of small skates.
  • Disc width – Male 21.0 cm Female 22 cm
  • The upper surface is warm brown, with a pair of large ocelli near the middle of the back.
  • It has a more produced snout, this preoral portion is a little more than a third the entire length of the disc.
  • The antero-lateral margins of the disk, from the snout to the rounded pectoral angles, are broadly sinuous.
  • The width of the interorbital space is hardly more than the length of the orbit.
  • There are several spines on the anterior edge of the orbit and one near its posterior angle.
  • There are numerous little spicules on the dorsal surface of the snout, as well as on parts of both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the anterolateral margin.
  • There is a row of three large spines on the middle line of the nape, and there are at least two rows of smaller spines on the posterior fourth of the disk, in the midd
  • le line.
  • The tail is as long as the disk and is armed, both on the dorsal surface and on the sides, with rows of spines, those on the sides being smaller and more numerous than those on the dorsum.
  • The caudal fin, which is present on the dorsal surface only, is confluent with the second dorsal.
  • They are oviparous, eggs have horn-like projections on the shell; approximately 6 cm long, paired eggs are laid. Embryos feed solely on yolk.
  • IUCN has listed the species as Data deficient
  • It is utilized by humans for its meat.